Before his comeback event Simon Dyson says he felt 'pretty low' after being
found guilty of rules infringement but did not cheat intentionally and has
had support from fellow golfers

Simon Dyson revealed here on Wednesday how the rules controversy which saw him hit with a £30,000 fine and a suspended two-month ban was the “lowest point of my career” - but also how the saga has rekindled his love of golf.

Last month a three-man panel cleared the Yorkshireman of “premeditated cheating” in tapping down a spike mark on his line during the second round of the BMW Masters - an infraction which caused his disqualification from the Chinese event - but found that his act was deliberate.

The panel declared that the “extreme seriousness” of such an offence “in the appropriate case” would warrant an immediate ban, but chose to suspend it for 18-months because of his previous good conduct in 14 years on Tour. The Abu Dhabi Championship, which starts here tomorrow, is Dyson’s first tournament since the verdict and Luke Donald, who is one of oldest friends on the circuit, is just one who has noticed his discomfort.

“We exchanged pleasantries yesterday. His body language said to me that he has some remorse and feels bad about what happened,” Donald said. “I think it’s something that he will remember and learn from and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”

Dyson made that very pledge, saying “I’m just going to be very careful from now on, make sure I’m on the ball and be very professional about everything I do”. He admitted the last few months he has felt “pretty low”, but that he has found a positive in the depths.

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“It made me realise how much I love doing what I do, as there was a good chance that it might have been taken away for me for a couple of months, if the panel had seen it differently,” Dyson said. “I fell out of love with the game the last couple of years and it’s just nice to be back and playing and be amongst everyone again."

Whenever any player is accused of breaking a rule - particularly such a well-known rule, which, in truth, no professional should ever fall foul of - there are whispers in the locker room and the resulting stigma is inevitable. One of the reasons for the European Tour convening the disciplinary panel was, at least to some extent, because of the anger of Dyson’s fellow pros. Dyson acknowledged it was his lowest point as a golfer.

“Yeah, massively. I don't think you can get any worse really. Luckily, it didn’t get quite there,” Dyson said. “It wasn’t very nice. Like I said, the last two years I’ve not really enjoyed my golf and then to have it all topped off by that was... well, there’s only way it can go now, hopefully.”

Although there are Tour colleagues who have privately articulated their disgust at Dyson and at what they perceived as the leniency of the sanction, Dyson has been delighted by the response here this week.

“It’s been great. I can’t say enough about them [his fellow pros] really,” Dyson said. “Everyone has been coming up and talking to me.” Away from golf, he has also been buoyed by the backing he has received.

“I’ve had so much support from people who know me and they know that’s not what I’m like. The support has been unbelievable. It’s gone now, what’s happened has happened and is in the past. And that’s the way I've looked at it since the day of the hearing really.

"My wife and I back home haven't spoken about it. There isn’t anything anybody can say or do that will change what happened. I wish I could. But nobody can. I just have to get on with it and carry on”

Dyson agreed with the panel in labelling his misdemeanour as a ”momentary aberration”. “Absolutely, there was no intent whatsoever,” Dyson said. “I’ve never done it in the past and I’ll never do it in the future. There was no intent whatsoever to try to get an advantage. I’m just looking to start afresh now and hopefully get back to where I was a couple of years ago.”

In the immediate wake of the furore, and while he was waiting for his hearing, Dyson played in two events in South Africa, finishing in a tie for third at the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Leopard Creek. That affords him optimism of a return to the heights of 2009-11 when he won four times and rose into the world’s top 30.

“Like I said, this has made me realise I love doing what I do. I’m probably as focused as Ive ever been and Ill get me head down and try to get back into that top 50 again,” he said.

Dyson is regarding this as his “reset tournament”. The 36-year-old plays the first two rounds in the company of Scotland’s Jamie McLeary and his countryman Mark Foster.